Catalina 350 International Association

Urban legend says this topic has been covered here in the past, but I can not find it. While motor sailing recently, strange noises came from the motor. Sounding like a fan belt issue. Two of us went below to investigate. Capt. Bill said grab the bottom of the companionway steps and pivot them up while I pull off the engine front cover. He said you know you can tie those up to the handhold on the ceiling and never have to stow the ladder.
What a great idea. No moving the 43.5 lb. steps. No leaning the steps on anything. The problem is when you raise them up the top step ends up contacting the fiberglass. Capt. Bill said some sailors have cut off the back part of the top wooden step to get the ladder to raise up further.
The top step has a horizontal gap of about 4 inches before the next lower step. The rest of the steps do not have any horizontal gaps. So I thought if the top step moved forward more it would be more like the other steps.
I removed the top step. It can only be moved forward about a half inch before the metal supports under the steps can be seen peaking out behind the two wings. This to me is the limiting factor. So I moved the center section forward a 1/2 inch. and screwed it back down. Then lined up the two wings with the center section and screwed them into position. Raising the ladder up till it was against the vertical fiberglass wall. I approximated where to cut the wing in a parallel line to the wall, using blue tape. Using a jig saw set at a 20 degree angle, I shaved off about 3/8” of wood. Allowing the steps to raise up higher with out being able to see the metal supports below the wings. Measuring from the cabin sole to the bottom of the steps. Prior to the alterations, it would only raise up 16”. Now I can raise up to 24”.

I have cut the wooden top step on each side all the way back to the supporting bracket that the step is secured to, this allows you to tie the ladder up parallel to the floor. In addiction, I have cut the bottom step, starboard side all the way back to the supporting bracket to give more clearance getting in and out of galley. I was always striking my leg on ladder.

An integrating concept-- just swinging the ladder up vs removing it.

BUT (yes, large BUT), were that ladder to fall while you are working on the engine, the next call may be to your life insurance carrier.

I would not trust the teak overhead handrails to support that weight. Winches and cleats on either side of the companionway would provide a much more robust anchor for the lines holding up the companionway ladder.

Said another way, the teak handrails may hold that weight-- until they don't!

Brett:

Ingenious answer using the two winches on the cabin deck. Yes, I was concerned about the catastrophic damage from a single point failure of tying to the handrail above. I tried your idea out, and it works great. I will submit a photo below showing a single line holding the ladder up. But you can easily tie two lines to two different winches. I just made a loop using a bowline and slipped it over the winch then dropped it down the companionway.
“Two is one, one is none”

Dana Vihlen
SeaBreeze hull #78